Built around the most innovative technologies Linux has to offer: Snapper to take the most from snapshots capability of the powerful Btrfs filesystem offered as default option, Wicked to bring light to network configuration, Dracut to ensure shorter boot times… For users asking for even more innovation Plasma 5.1, the next generation workspace by KDE, is also available as a technical preview.

openSUSE is an open source, community-supported distribution of Linux derived from the SUSE operating system created and distributed by the Novell company. It is an RPM-based OS, which means that it gets its roots from Red Hat Linux.

It is a Linux OS for your desktop computer, portable laptop or server. It can be used to surf the web, do office work, manage your photos, send and receive emails, play music and watch movies, and much more.

Distributed as installable-only DVDs

The system is distributed as installable DVDs, netboot CDs, rescue CDs, as well as two Live CDs with the KDE and GNOME desktop environments. All of them support both 64-bit and 32-bit architectures.

The version reviewed here is only for the installable DVD, which includes both KDE and GNOME desktop environments, as well as a very large collection of open source applications. On the dedicated download section you will also find minimalistic CDs that can be used to install openSUSE over the network, as well as optional Add-On CDs with support for extra languages.

The DVD installation medium is the best choice for those who want to deploy openSUSE on desktop or server computers. It can be written on USB flash drives and it’s suitable for custom installations or upgrades.

When installing openSUSE with this DVD image, you will have complete access to a wide range of open source applications, including the Mozilla Firefox web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird email client, and many more.

SUSE Studio

Another interesting feature of the openSUSE project is a tool called SUSE Studio, which allows anyone to build their own live Linux distributions based on the openSUSE operating system.

Whether you like GNOME or KDE, openSUSE can deliver one of the best desktop experience based on the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM). We recommended to anyone who owns a high-end computers and wants to transform it into a modern and completely open source workstation.

openSUSE Linux was reviewed by Marius Nestor, last updated on November 4th, 2014